It's something she'll never be fully at peace with, but just knowing that something positive would come of her horrific experience awarded her some reconciliation.
PHILADELPHIA -- It's something she'll never be fully at peace with, but just knowing that something positive would come of her horrific experience gives her some comfort.
Katlyn Pagaduan, a 31-year-old Deptford native whose boyfriend was killed by the son of the track coach at Deptford High School who had sexually molested her as a teenager, told her story on Monday at a roundtable event featuring U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pennsylvania).
The event centered around a bipartisan bill headed by Toomey and U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) that aims to keep sexual and violent predators out of school classrooms. The bill was recently signed into law by President Barack Obama.
"It should have been done years ago," Pagaduan said a few days before the roundtable event. She added that for too long schools have been able to "sweep (abuse) under the rug."
After meeting Toomey at an event last spring, Pagaduan became a major part of the legislative process in formulating the bill, known as the Passing-the-Trash Ban. A central component to the bill aims to prevent schools from helping an employee who is a child molester from obtaining a new job and moving on to other victims, according to a statement from Toomey's office.
Though Pagaduan believes such a measure is long overdue, she is glad to see the action finally put into place so that hopefully no other child has to experience what she went through.
Sitting across from Toomey in a conference room in a hotel on South Broad Street, Pagaduan broke down in tears at one point while speaking about her past.
"It's always a wave," she said after the event. "It just hits you. I've dealt with it for so many years, but it always just hits me like a storm."
In 2002, Pagaduan's track coach, William Corsey III, pleaded guilty to criminal sexual contact. A second victim had also come forward and accused Corsey of having sexual relations. He was sentenced to eight years in prison and released in 2007.
Corsey's son, Billy Corsey IV, who in 2000 fatally stabbed Pagaduan's 18-year-old boyfriend, Chris Bensinger, was convicted of manslaughter in 2007 and released roughly a year later.
Under the bill, school districts that receive federal funds are prohibited from "assisting a school worker in obtaining a new job if the school knows or has probable cause to believe that the school worker engaged in sexual misconduct with a minor or student."
Pagaduan also said, in addition to helping prevent future sexual abuse, she took comfort in knowing that the bill would serve as a remembrance of Bensinger.
"We get to remember Chris' name," she said. "That was my dedication."
After all, it was Bensinger who had persuaded her to speak out against the coach.
The Toomey-Manchin bill "forbids schools from hiring people who have been convicted of certain crimes, such as any violent or sexual crime against a child."
Spencer Kent may be reached at skent@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerMKent. Find the South Jersey Times on Facebook.